23rd COVID-19 Death CT Prisons
Yesterday, the 23rd incarcerated person in Connecticut passed away due to COVID-19. This is the 2nd COVID-19 death in the CT Department of Corrections this month. Since the onset of the pandemic, Governor Lamont and state officials have failed to develop a comprehensive plan that keeps incarcerated people safe. As a result, COVID-19 and the new variant continue to spread in correctional facilities in Connecticut, causing the unnecessary deaths of incarcerated people. We know incarcerated people have far higher rates of contracting and passing away from COVID-19 than the general population, yet the Governor refuses to take life-saving action.
Yesterday, when the news broke about the recent death, we were out flyering downtown Hartford, speaking with community members about our #FreeThemNowCT campaign and the need to develop a more comprehensive COVID-19 plan for people detained in correctional facilities. To learn more about our #FreeThemNowCT campaign click here.
Join us and take action here to demand that Governor Lamont protect our incarcerated loved ones from COVID-19!
Marijuana Health and Safety in CT
Our co-Founder and co-Executive Director, Lorenzo Jones, will be on WSHU’s The Full Story tomorrow, Friday December 17th at 7 pm to discuss Marjiuana legalization and what it means for health and safety in our state.
Catch the interview on all WSHU frequencies or online here.
Books We’re Reading & Honoring bell hooks
Yesterday, we lost an elder. At the age of 69, author, feminist, and activist bell hooks passed away in her home state of Kentucky. Her words captured generations with her unshakable ability to get to the root of racism, patriarchy, sexism, misogyny, and most importantly, love.
My introduction to bell hooks began with a faded book on the back shelf of a library in Springfield, Massachusetts. Though I had read short passages of her work previously, there was something captivating about the broken spine of Black Looks: Race and Representation. It changed my life, and to this day, I pull out scraps of paper with passages from Black Looks that I wrote by hand years ago.
After a tumultuous 2020, I was gifted All About Love by my partner for the holidays. To no surprise, bell hooks is once again radically changing my life for the better. Through personal accounts, observations, and gut-wrenching honesty, bell hooks invites the reader to challenge their notions of love, and power, in 13 powerful chapters. All About Love is changing me for the better, much like her other works have done for me in the past.
I’m learning how to love fully from bell hooks, because of bell.
Thank you for everything. Rest in peace and power.
– Kenyatta Muzzanni, Director of Organizing
Katal Quotes of the Week
These are some of the quotes we’re thinking about this week.
“The moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others.” — bell hooks
“When one dreams alone, it is only a dream. When many people dream together, it is the beginning of a new reality.” –Friedensreich Hundertwasser
“Life is very short and what we have to do must be done in the now.” — Audre Lorde
Sign up for the Katal New York Update
We announced in March that, after nearly 5 years, we’re ending the Katal Weekly Update, and moving to two separate email updates — one for Connecticut, another for New York. If you’d also like to keep up what we’re doing in New York, click here to sign up for the Katal New York Update!
Be safe as possible out there, and get vaccinated as soon as you can. If you want to get involved, learn more about our work, or just connect, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Katal works to strengthen the people, policies, institutions, and movements that advance health, equity, and justice for everyone. Join us: web, Twitter, Facebook! Email: info@katalcenter.org. Phone: 646.875.8822.
